The city plans to make data from the 2010 Census available to the public online, City Clerk Ellen Wink announced Friday.

Wink, Norwalk's liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau, said a representative from the agency's Boston Regional Office visited City Hall Friday morning to deliver promotional materials. That information, she said, will be available via a link on the city's website, www.norwalkct.org.

"These numbers are everything we need to go fight for state and federal dollars," Wink said. "These numbers have changed our entitlements. We want to make sure we get our fair shake, especially when the dollars are short."

The U.S. Constitution mandates a count of everyone living in the United States every 10 years. Census data are used to allocate more than $400 billion in federal funds to state and local governments, and are used to distribute congressional seats to states.

The Census Bureau in January released population and congressional apportionment figures, which show Connecticut's population rose a modest 4.9 percent to about 3,574,097 residents, meaning the state will keep all five of its seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Connecticut will retain its five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, unlike a decade ago, when the state lost its 6th congressional district due to low population growth compared to other states.

This week, the agency released more detailed population totals and demographic characteristics to Connecticut's governmental leaders to use for redistricting purposes, a process whereby the leadership in each state redraws the election map to shape the political landscape for the next 10 years.

The data show Norwalk's population grew 3.2 percent this past decade to 85,603 residents. The number of white residents in Norwalk decreased 4 percent over the last decade, and the city's black population also dipped 3.75 percent. Meanwhile, Norwalk's Asian population increased 51.8 percent, and its Hispanic population climbed 60.1 percent.